This invention relates to an attachment flange for equipment utilized to perform a task by connection to other equipment. More particularly, it is directed to an attachment flange primarily to attach associated equipment to a variety of connection arrangements.
In many industries, equipment used to perform a task must accommodate a variety of connection arrangements present on the equipment upon which a particular activity is to be performed. One such example is found in the railroad and trucking industries in which pressurized air or other source of pressurized gas is attached to a tank car or a vehicular tank trailer to deliver the pressurized gas into the interior of the tank car or tank trailer during unloading of the load carried in the vehicle. The tank cars or trailer tanks of various manufacturers are used by shippers to supply raw materials to a customer that uses the materials in a manufacturing process. Because of differences between manufacturers of the load carrying vehicles, the task of unloading requires a variety of attachment arrangements to accommodate the connection arrangements presented by the vehicles employed by shippers.
The present invention accommodates the variance in connection arrangements by providing an attachment flange for the equipment to be connected that has a universal attachment capability.